Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A national multidisciplinary dialogue to be organized by the African Center for Early Childhood Development (AfC-ECD), Addis Ababa’s ECD Center of Excellence, in collaboration with its partners will highlight critical Early Childhood Development (ECD) issues and the impact of climate change on young children in Ethiopia, the Center stated.
According to a concept note developed by the center, the aim of the national dialogue which is slanted for September 23, 2024 in Addis Ababa, is to foster a discussion that will lead to actionable insights and policy recommendations to protect and promote the well-being of children in the face of a changing climate, AfC-ECD underscores.
The national dialogue which is expected to bring stakeholders together will explore the nexus of ECD, childcare and climate change, aiming to integrate these concerns into the dialogues, ensuring that the needs of the youngest members of society are comprehensively addressed, it added.
Why Focus On Early Childhood?
Official statements from UNICEF say: “Early Childhood offers a critical window of opportunity to shape the trajectory of a child’s holistic development and build a foundation for their future.”
According to the UN Agency, Early childhood is a critical period for development, with 80-90% of brain development occurring within the first six years, predominantly in the first three years.” In the first few years of life, more than one million neural connections are formed each second – a pace never repeated again.”
The Sustainable Development Goal 4 that seeks to ensure lifelong learning, also states that effective early childhood development is essential to enhance productivity, to achieve increased income, and to reduce inequities when children become adult.
Early Childhood Development is also instrumental to improve young children’s growth and development, to increase quality of home care practices, protects against stress, and to reduce risks of chronic disease and improves mental health in adulthood.
It is also vital to improve motivation and opportunities for girls education, so that they can benefit equally from schooling and enter the job market, to attain outcomes closer to more affluent peers, to enhance coping strategies, even in conditions of severe adversity including climate change.
The Challenges
The Ethiopian National Early Childhood Development and Education Policy Framework, states that the 2019 mini-EDHS 2019 survey shows that there is a severe lack of adequate diet for Ethiopian children; about 37% of children below the age of five are stunted and only 58% of infants who are 6 months old are breastfed.
The same survey indicates only 49.8% of pregnant women delivered in health facilities, and 34% received post-natal services.
Ethiopian Public Health Association (EPHA) found that 13 percent of Addis Ababa children aged 0-3 are not developmentally on track.
Implementing ECD program in Addis Ababa for all children under six faces multiple challenges. These include inadequate infrastructure, limited caregiver knowledge, issues related to equity and access, a scarcity of trained professionals, financial limitations, complex policy landscapes, and the need to address cultural and linguistic diversity while ensuring robust community engagement.
UNICEF also has reported that millions of children are not receiving the nutrition or health care they need, growing up exposed to violence, polluted environments and extreme stress.
“They miss out on opportunities to learn and are deprived of the stimulation that their developing brains need to thrive. Their parents and caregivers struggle to get the time, resources and services necessary to provide their children with nurturing care in these contexts.
When children miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they pay the price in lost potential – dying before they have a chance to grow up, or going through life with poor physical and mental health; struggling to learn and, later, to earn a living.
Facts and Figures About Early Childhood?
Official sources indicate that over 20% of the Ethiopian population is under six years old and most of these children are not receiving the desired services related to health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety and security, and early learning.
Only 43 Many children in Africa are excluded from school and contribute to the livelihood of their family instead. Experts estimate that a total of 30 million children in sub-Saharan Africa do not attend school. 54 percent of them are girls.
one child in the world still dies every five seconds. In 2022, 4.9 million children under 5 years of age died. Growing up without a mother and father – that’s the sad reality for 15 million children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Globally, an estimated 1.2 billion children live in an area at high risk of flooding, severe drought, or other climate threats.
Most of these children’s families also depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, particularly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Impacts of Climate Change on ECD
Children are often more vulnerable than the general population to the health impacts of climate change due to their low physical strength, faster breathe that adults increasing their exposure to dangerous air pollutants, longer time spent outdoors, more water usage and their emotional developing situation.
The Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN) says that climate change significantly affects children’s mental health and well-being. The stress and trauma are likely to disrupt the way children and caregivers interact.
“Every year, 40 million children have their education disrupted because of disasters exacerbated by climate change. Young children are especially impacted by these disruptions.”
The 2023 UNICEF report also has confirmed that More than 43 million children have been displaced due to weather-related disasters over the last six years. Therefore, The negative effects of climate change and environmental degradation will be most pronounced for young children from the most disadvantaged and vulnerable populations who face multiple intersecting vulnerabilities, UNICEF concludes.
The Solutions for ECD Challenges
The Ethiopian government in collaboration with the Addis Ababa City Administration launched a comprehensive strategy in March 2021 to expand inclusive programming to include all children under the age of six.
The Addis Ababa city administration hopes to assist 1.3 million children, including 330,000 low-income households in the city that are home to vulnerable children by 2026.
The African Center for Early Childhood Development has also finalized to kick start awareness raising campaigns among stakeholders to advocate for the integration of ECD and the health as well as education systems, building playgrounds, childcare centers, ensuring play-based pre-primary teaching in schools and the like.
“My goal is to transform Addis Ababa by improving its urban environment and services to create friendlier public spaces and experiences for infants, toddlers, young children and their caregivers and improve their access to high-quality early childhood services. To this end, ‘Children: The Future Hope of Addis Ababa Early Childhood Development Initiative’ aims to ensure that by 2025, all children in Addis Ababa have the best start in life to create a better future for themselves and for Ethiopia.”
She said that the administration will make sure the realization of universal pre-school, home visits by a team of social workers, day care centers, and more public play areas.
Mayor of Addis Ababa City Administration Ms. Adanech Abiebie also signed MoU with UNICEF to support Early Childhood development program in January 2024
The African Center for Early Childhood Development (AfC-ECD), based in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, envisages realizing Early Childhood Development (ECD) through public dialogue, ECD promotion and inclusiveness.
The Center established by the Addis Ababa city administration as part of its ECD program with a view to advance early childhood development best practices and policy promotion at the local, state, and national levels has launched activities to engage partners in inclusive dialogue and to build strong linkages among pertinent stakeholders for a sustainable early childhood development in Ethiopia.
AfC-ECD in collaboration with partners including the African Early Childhood Network (AfECN) and pursuing inclusive and collaborative approaches, is working to influencing policy directions, improving the capacities, skills, and competencies of the early childhood care workforce in Ethiopia in particular and in Africa in general.